Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Stocks faded in the final hour of trading Tuesday to finish lower following news that Greek depositors withdrew 700 million euros from the nation's banking system and after Greece's leaders failed to agree on a coalition government.

The S&P 500 closed at 3-month lows, while the Dow logged its ninth loss in the last 10 sessions. Major averages are on pace for their biggest monthly losses since last September.

According to a transcript, Greek depositors recently withdrew 700 million euros from the nation's local banks, said President Karolos Papoulias, though the exact timing of the transfer was unclear.

...

Earlier, Greek politicians failed to form a coalition government during their final talks, pushing the Athens Composite Index to a new 22-year low. A caretaker government is likely to be formed pending a new election next month. The euro fell below $1.28 following the announcement and European closed at new 2012 lows.

“The fundamental structural issues in Europe are still there and they’re not going to go away…they’ll continue to kick the can down the road because they’re only doing just enough to get by,” said Matt Lloyd, chief investment strategist at Advisors Asset Management.

8
comments:

Anonymous
said...

Understandable that Greeks who still have savings in Euro are withdrawing their money as the risk of an exit from the Eurozone is increasing. While an exit from the Eurozone would be a disaster for Greece, I am not sure if other nations (and their taxpayers) would be willing to support Greece for the next 10+ years. I do not see any growth opportunities for Greece and how they could revive their industry as they are not an export nation. Therefore, Greece would still need aid from other nations in case they re-introduced Drachma. However, I still think that an exit would be a painful, but appropriate step at this point.

True or false this is part of the anti-SYRIZA scaremongering tactics of the Twin Single Party in a desperate attempt to stop their own collapse.

Otherwise why would the President of the Republic (who normally just is there in the background like the Queen of Denmark) say that? Because he, a PASOK affiliate, is trying to force-feed another pro-Troika government to a Greek People who will not have anymore of it.

But the Greek People is already way too tired of the lies of the Twin Single Party and I dare to forecast a comfortable majority for the True Left in the upcoming elections, notably SYRIZA, who is doing exactly what the nation needs: face the Troika-IMF, aka the Capitalist International of plunder and death.

The Coalition of the Radical Left, SYRIZA, which was in the <5% vote zone in previous elections is poised to win with more than 20% and maybe close to 30% of the vote.

Meanwhile the ND-PASOK Twin Single Party is collapsing from c. 80% to barely 20%.

If Greeks would not trust "any government", they would have abstained, but they are shifting radically to the Left instead: they trust more and more those who are providing a coherent discourse where the interest of the Greek People, notably the working class, is first.

Something that was heard in the Greek streets often when Papandreu betrayed his electoral program just after taking office was "we need a true socialist party". It's mostly the former voters of PASOK who are now voting SYRIZA (and to lesser extent DIMAR).

Ironically the (other) Communist Party (KKE) rejects to take part in any government because they demand exit from EU right away. SYRIZA does not but it's clear that, once they implement their socialist policies and they declare the Memorandum illegitimate and much of the debt "hateful", Greece will be suspended by EU. KKE is not growing at all.

I wonder who is withdrawing this amount of money. Certainly not the ordinary Joe as Greece has only 11.3 million inhabitants. I assume that many companies are trying to save their assets before the Drachma hammer hits.

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

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